Thursday, April 8, 2010



I could almost see the sun this morning when we took our morning walk. It was slightly cold but still very nice. The sound carpet from the lake gets more and more silent now. The cranes are moving north and only the nesting couples and “teenagers” will stay here for the summer. I´m not sure if the teen agers are younger ones, but they stay together in rather large groups moving from one field to the other during the summer. I´ve always thought these were to young to start nesting yet, but I can be wrong, that has happened before :-)






I needed some milk today and drove in to Skara. I could have just driven to the store in Gudhem but then I remembered that I had promised You photographs from the older parts of Skara. I have always liked Skara better than Falköping. I can´t explain why, it´s just the way it is. I walked around there for a while but it was a bit chilly so I decided to drive home again.




I decided to buy some geraniums or fuchsias on my way home and drove to one of the bigger, well I don´t like to call it a gardencenter, it´s like a supermarket for plants and sometimes the staff actully knows what they are selling. It is these “supermarkets” that kills the smaller nurceries and gardencentres that has those special plants You can´t find i supermarkets. I know I shouldn´t go there since I don´t like it. But there aren´t any other places left ina reasonable distance. Later this summer I´ll take You to a really good place :-)




I walked around looking for geraniums when I suddenly saw that they had 50% of on orchids. Mostly it was Phalaenopsis hybrids (usually seen as the easiest amongst orchids and they bloom for months at a time) and yes they are beautiful but I have had so many of them, but then I found Cattleya hybrids. In my opinion those are the easiest of all orchids, since I just have to put them outside in a shady spot all summer not having to care about watering (if nature gives them water fine, if not fine :-) ). These had just one or two flower buds left so they won´t flower for very long now, but instead of geraniums I brought two of these cattleyas home instead :-)






Well now I feel it´s time for a cup of tea and then a little nap :-)

Have a great day now!

 
 
This one have the wonderful scent of Gardenia. I can´t describe it better.
 
 
I think this one wiull open up totally already tomorrow. I like the colors on this one. The scent turns towards citrus I think, but I´ll know better when it has opened up totally.
 

18 comments:

Wenche said...

Hoppas du inte tar illa upp, men jag har vuxne barn och jag har känt mig lite orolig för dig i vinter ute i skogen eftersom du har varit sjuk.Du kanske bor i hop med ett helt gäng, men jag måste få fråga om du har nära till grannar eller andre som kan hjälpa dig om du behöver?

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hej Wenche!
Hur skulle jag kunna ta illa upp över att någon bryr sig? :-)
Ingen fara, jag har grannar som bor alldeles intill. Ser de mig inte på ett par dagar kommer de och kollar upp mig direkt :-)
Ha det riktigt gott nu!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

WOW! What a tour. I didn't see any restaurant signs. Where do people get lunch over there? I love those buildings and how quaint. I also notice metal roofs. Now that's gotta be the banker's house who lives in the town, right? Over here a metal roof that big would cost plenty. Great post today Christer, thanks!

Alen Trädgård said...

Gud vilken fin gammal stad Skara är:) och vilka fina foton. Förstår att du tycker om att gå omkring där. Kanske lite skönare på sommaren dock. Synd att du bor så långt bort från mig annars så kunde du kommit till mig och fått fuchsior:) eventuellt hade jag även haft någon pelargon. Ha det gott/Monne

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer...beautiful orchids. i love that town but why does it look so empty? the buildings are wonderful! i am baking a chocolate cake today! joyce

Ann said...

Good morning Christer-I really enjoyed looking over todays photos-the colors used on the buildings in Skara are incredible-love the combination of yellow, reds and oranges with the more subtle bieges and browns-they are very cheerful and bright-must appreciate this particularly on the long winter days. I too admire orchids-especially those that will bloom for weeks and weeks-great choices on your cattleyas -these are not readily available here in the nurseries-usually have to go to a bigger garden center or florist-and yours are scented-what a treat!! Thank you for always brightening my day-now off to garden ie. cut back dead stalks and remove the debris of winter so spring can move in. Angie

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
Well the restaurants is close by, but I decided not to take any photo´s there today. These photographs comes from the neighbour block.

Once upon a time I think metal roofs only were on rich mens houses, but today they are becomming very common. I´m thinking of having that when it´s time to change roof here.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Monne!
Visst är Skara riktigt vackert! Dessa bilderna kommer ju dessutom från bara ett kvarter. Fast det skall erkännas att det finns några mindre vackra områden också :-)

Tack för erbjudandet, men de borde börja sälja dem lite överallt här snart också. Tror att de redan kommit igång i Falköping.
Ha det gott!
Christer.

Kat said...

Christer,
I loved your tour and the architecture of all the different houses. I think the yellow house with the tree is my favorite.

In Africa, a metal roof was the norm, and they rusted quickly in the rainy season-no teaching when it rained, too noisy.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
I thought they are beautiful too. Since they are so easy to get in to bloom again I thought they were worth that price.

The weather wasn´t the best to be honest and I was that early that nobody had a break yet and those being home most probably wouldn´t go out for yet a couple of hours :-)

Chocolate cake! Mmmmmm :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Angie!
Skara is a beautiful little town and very old too. I think it was five years ago it celebrated its 1000 birthday :-)

Since people always thinks that cattleyas are difficult and don´t buy them. So they can be real hard to get here too. But I think they had a orchid eibition there a couple of weeks ago.

I think all my japanese climbing roses (Rosa multiflora) has died this winter. I have rather many so I hope we´ll get lots of sun this weekend so I can start to remove them from the garden :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Kat!
I thought You would like todays photo´s :-) and this is just one small block in the town. I have plenty more to photograph there :-)

Metal roofs are getting more and more common here now and i wouldn´t mind having that too. I can however imagine how much it must have sounded when it rained down in Africa :-) A sound I love but it´s all one can hear then :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Marjorie said...

Hi Christer,

I found your blog through Joyce's blog and have been a reader for a while but have not commented before. Your photography is great and what a lovely town--I especially like the cobblestone streets. Hope you have gotten over your illness!

Marjorie

littlegreengardengal said...

Thanks for sharing all the great pictures. I love getting to "visit" places I won't see in real life and seeing all the different architecture and how people live there.
I have a metal roof, but they put it on over the old roof when they installed it so it is not noisy like the older kinds of metal roofs are. And we get a lot of rain here, so I am glad it is not so noisy. I like the sounds of rain, but like to be able to sleep too. :)

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Majorie!
Welcome to my little part of the world!

Most small towns around here looks much like this one, small wooden houses. But the cobblestone roads are mostly gone and that is something most of is happy about :-) :-)

My cold is almost over now :-) Thank You!

Have a great day and welcome back!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Gardengirl!
That is one of the great things with our blogs! We can visit places we almost certain never will travel too :-)

Way up here in the north thay can´t do in any other way when it comes to roofs. We need a lot of insolation under it. So we can almost not hear the sound from rain on the metal roof. But it is a really nice sound :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

SpinMeAYarn said...

Hej Christer!
Thanks for the lovely photos, I remember being totally bowled over by the houses and buildings when I first moved to Sweden in the 1990's.
It was so different to what I was used to from Ireland.
I love Swedish houses and house-building knowhow so much that I now live in a wooden Swedish house in Limerick, Ireland! The house was built in a factory in Lysekil on the west coast of Sweden and transported here to be erected.
Jag älskar mitt hus, det är så varmt och energisnålt, med 3glas fönster och bra isolering. Vad bra att svenskar kan bygga så bra!
Gillar förresten din första bild, med landskapet på tidig morgontid och med dessa stora vita bollar av hö eller ensilage, dem har vi här också.
Ha det så bra,
liz

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Liz!
Jag är lite seg nu på morgonen så det får bli ett svar på svenska :-) :-)

Ja, vi har ju varit tvugna att lära oss hur man skall bygga husen täta och energisnåla med det klimatet vi har :-) Nackdelen med trähus är ju att man måste underhålla fasaden lite mera, men det tycker jag det är värt. Jag måste till exempel måla om huset i år, kan inte påstå att jag längtar efter det men sedan behöver jag ju inte tänka på det i tio år :-)

Ha det gott!
Christer.